Turbine water-wheel.



PATENTED JULY 28, 1903.

W. 0. GROGKER. TURBINE WATER WHEEL.

A PPLIOATION FILED AUG. 10, 1898.

MODEL.

a 0 WM 0 W W manner.. '13 indicates the buckets of the wheel, and P the circumferential band surrounding the outermost extremities of the; buckets. Said crown, hub, buckets, and band are all formed integrally, being cast as one piece, and thus. constitute a strong and rigid wheel. l

The under surface of the crown; A, as shown. in Fig. 2, is formed with reverse or concavoconvex curves, (indicated, respectively, by J 1 and K,) and said surface configuration of the crown causes the water (which enters the buckets under and near the crown, as indi-.

-UNITED STATES Patented July 2s, 1.903.

"PATENT GFFICE.

TURBINE WATER-WHEEL.

V SPECIFIGA TION forming part of Letters Patent No. 734,673, dated July 28, 1903.

V Application-filed August 10,1896. Serial No. 602.259. (Model) To all whom it mayconccrn:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM O. GRooKER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Turners Falls, in the county of Frank:

lin and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and usefullmprovementsin Turbine VVa ter-Wheels, of which the following is a specifi-. cation.

This invention (for which a patent was granted to me by the Dominion of Canada on May a 19, ]896,N0. 52,308) relates to waterwheels, and particularly to that class thereof known as turbine-wheels, the object being to provide a wheel of this class so constructed. as to the buckets and other parts thereof as to;

increase its efficiency and at the same time to produce a wheel of simple and economical construction; and the lnvention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the parts of the wheel, all as hereinafter fully described,and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this application, Figure 1 is a top plan view, and Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on line 2 2, Fig; 1, of a turbine water-wheel embodying my improvements. Fig. 3 isa sectional view. of one of the buckets on line 3 3, Fig. 2, showing also aportion of the band. Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig. 3,:but taken on line 4 4,1 Fig. 2. Fig. 5 isla perspective view ofa sec-j tion of said band.

In the drawings, A is the crown of the wheel.

D is the hub through which the shaft E passes and to which the wheelis secured inthe usual cated by the arrows 3, Fig. 2) to subsequently take the courses indicated by the arrows 4,

sively by the arrows 5 and 6.

immediately adjacent thereto. The subsequent direction of flow is indicated succes- The arrows 7 indicate the direction of the outflow at different points on the discharge end of the bucket.

The buckets are arranged in a circle under the crown, their positions being shown clearly in dotted lines in Fig. l and in elevation in Fig. 2. Water entering the buckets, as clearly The buckets arranged about the shat'tE U have their upper ends secured to the surfaces of the crown-piece A. These buckets consist of vertically-arranged side walls a at their upper portions, which are concave on their impact-faces and together with the curved portion 1) form a water-pocket which in crosssection has the form of a parabolic curve, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4:. The outer edge of the buckets B, against which the water first impacts, is curved outwardly to form a lip, as at c, in the direction of the movement of the-wheel. This reversely-formed or outwardly-extending portion 0 at the outer edge of the bucket serves to direct the full volume of the water into the impact portion of the bucket and prevents loss of the power by the otherwise possible impactof the water against the back of the buckets, and a better pressure is obtained by confining the full force of the WELCBI'lJO the impact-surfaces. At their lower extremities the side walls 0t terminate in the curved portions 61 and e to form a water-pocket W, which receives the water which has not escaped from the upper portion through the vertical openings above the said I curve (2 in order to utilize the "full force of the.

water, which finally escapes through the space adjacent to the curve (1. This curve is integrally joined with the rim P, which extends within the bucket to retard the upward flow of the water which has been retained within the bucket and prevent its interference with the incoming water in the upper portion of the said bucket. It will be seen that'by these curves the water is given a circuitous passage at all points of which it exerts pressure against the various parts ofthe buckets, the general direction of the flow being indicated by the arrows 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

The crown to which the upper ends of the buckets are secured is made with a reversed curve in order that the water may take a direction of discharge toward the axis of the wheel along natural lines, whereby choking of the discharge below the band may be prevented. The edge of the buckets against which the water impacts first curves forwardly in the direction of movement of the wheel and presents a reversely-curved impact-surface to the water, whose discharge is central and at a sharp angle to the axis of the wheel. The forward edge of the bucket above the ring curves forward beyond the of the ring must curve outwardly and up-.

Wardly.

To provide for the spreading of the discharge, as described, the buckets are formed,

' as shownviz. on parabolic curveswhether viewed in a plane vertical to the direction of movement of said buckets or viewed in section-on a vertical plane bisecting at right angles to the radius the discharge end of the bucket below the.ring or viewed on a plane .tion of the discharge.

cutting through that portion of the buckets between the crown and the ring and at right angles to the axis. From all these points of view the walls of the bucket will be found formed, as stated, on a parabolic curve or on two of them combined.

When the bucket is viewed, for instance, in end elevation, as it recedes the rear edge will be seen to be composed of two parabolic curves which meet at the center of the lowest part of the bucket. Both of these curves are the same, however, and if the short one were prolonged it would be identical with the longer one on the opposite side. In the crosssection through the vertical wall of the bucket between the ring and crown the said Wall shows only a slight recurve of the side toward the rear, which is given to the inner edge to insure a proper rearward discharge of the water. These parabolic curves are used because in practice they have been found the most efficient in effecting the distribu- Wheels built as above described provide for perfect clearance over the rearward edge 'of the bucket along the lines of direction stated above and provide agreater area of effective impact-surface and a greater area of discharge relative to the impact-surface than any known to me.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A turbine water-wheel comprising an integral structure having a crown-piece provided on its lower surface with a compound curve downwardly disposed, a series of buckets depending from said surface and having a rearwardly-flaring lip at their upper outer edges, a lower pocket formed of two parabolic curves, and a band integral with the outer edge of the pocket and extending within the same, the band as a whole being vertically external to the crown.

2. A turbine water-wheel comprising an integral structure having a crown-piece provided on its lower surface with a compound curve downwardly disposed, a series of buckets depending from said surfaces, the upper walls of which are formed of a paraboliccurved surface, and having a rearwardlyflared lip at their upper outer edges, a lower pocket formed of two parabolic curves, and a band integral with the outer edge of the pocket and extending within the same, the diameter of the inner edge of the band being greater than the external diameter of the crown.

3. A turbine water-wheel consisting of a bowl -shaped crown, the under surface of which is formed with reversed curves to guide the water at that point inwardly, downwardly and centrally, a band on the edge of the buckets whose under surface is formed in a curve having an increasing radius toward the outlet of the band, and which constitutes practically a continuation of the edge of the bucket, in combination with a bucket whose rear edge from a point above the band to the top of the bucket turns rearwardly.

4:. A turbine Water-wheel consisting of a bowl-shaped crown, the under surface of which is formed with reversed curves to guide the water at that point inwardly, downwardly and centrally, a band on the edge of the buckets whose under surface is formed in a curve having an increasing radius toward the outlet of the band, and which constitutes practically a continuation of the edge of the bucket, in combination with a bucket whose rear edge from a point above the band to the top of the bucket turns rearwardly; the discharge edge of the bucket being so disposed that the Water may move successively from the crown first centrally, then downwardly, and outwardly, and finally upwardly under the band.

WILLIAM O. CROCKER.

Witnesses:

PORTER FARWELL, CHESTER A. DAVIS. 

